Increasing women's representation in male-dominated work sectors remains a persistent problem. This paper reorientates the focus from women's underrepresentation to male overrepresentation and privilege, to identify and compare the causal mechanisms between the overrepresentation of men in two traditionally male-dominated work places in Australia: politics and construction. By applying feminist institutionalism, masculinities, and privilege, it argues the overrepresentation of men is linked to gendered rules that uphold hegemonic masculinities which produce masculine privilege and supports a gender hierarchy. Masculine privilege occurs via three mechanisms: (1) a culture of denial; (2) perceptions that rules are neutral, legitimate, and applied objectively; (3) through backlash and resistance to keep the gender status quo in place. We argue the effects of privilege combine to act as a barrier to the attraction, retention, and progression of women to both sectors and conclude that the masculine privilege provides a valuable lens to explore how male dominance operates within work sectors.

中文翻译：

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男性主导的工作场所和男性特权的力量：澳大利亚政治和建筑部门的比较

增加女性在男性主导的工作部门的代表性仍然是一个长期存在的问题。本文将关注点从女性的代表性不足重新定位到男性的代表性过高和特权，以识别和比较男性在澳大利亚两个传统上以男性为主的工作场所（政治和建筑）中的过度代表性之间的因果机制。通过应用女权制度主义、男子气概和特权，它认为男性的过度代表与维护霸权男子气概的性别规则有关，这些规则产生男性特权并支持性别等级。男性特权通过三种机制发生：（1）否认文化；(2) 认为规则是中立的、合法的和客观适用的；(3) 通过强烈反对和抵制来维持性别现状。